By Geoffrey ChaucerA Presentation by Chris, Sarah, and Ali

The Pardoner:Prologue

Occupation: combination of preaching and selling people the promise of “salvation”.

Sermon theme always is “Radix malorum est Cupiditas”, which means “greed is the root of all evil”.

Social Class: Clergy-member of the church and is considered “closer to God” than the common man.

Characteristics:Long, greasy yellow hair without a

bear- c onsidered “shifty” at Chaucer’s time

Carries relics- crossesRides at the back of the pilgrimsUntrustworthyLooking to “cash in on religion”

(Chaucers critisism)

One of the least moral of all the pilgrimAll of his “relics” are frauds.

-Offers (fake) “salvation” solely to gain riches

-Always preaches “covetousness”, which is the sin he most readily commits

Very greedy “I preach for nothing but for greed of

gain”(243).

*Deceitful: tricking people out of money “I speak some words in Latin-just a few- To

put a saffron tinge upon my preaching and stir devotion with a piece of preaching”(241).

*Vengeful “And so I take revenge upon our foes” (243).

The Pardoner’s Tale

He starts by describing a group of (Flemish) youngsters who drinks, eats, gambles, and does everything bad in great excess- exhibit gluttony as well as lust.He individually attacks all of their sins: gluttony, drunkenness, gambling, and swearing.Eventually focuses of three of the youngsters who were sitting in a tavern drinking in the morning.

The three heard a funeral bell, and a servant informs them it was one of their friends killed by a figure called “Death”Decided to find and kill “Death”• “If we can only catch him, Death is

dead!”(251).

o Early on their journey, they come across an old man who claims to have just seen “Death”, and points them in the right direction.• The three do not find “Death” there, but 8

bushels of unclaimed gold coins, and forgot all about their pursuit.

They know they cannot transport it during the day, so they drew sticks to see who would go get food and wine.

After the youngest leaves, the other two plot to kill him when he returns to gain bigger shares.

Meanwhile, the youngest is forming a similar scheme, and buys poison to kill the others. However, he was killed upon his return.

In their celebration, the other two drank poisoned wine and died next to their “friend”.

The pardoner concludes by condemning gluttony and avarice, which bring treachery and death.He then admits he forgot something, and offers to award each pilgrim (starting with the Host) a fake relic. However, the host says he will make a relic out of his genitals. The Knight calms them and the two make up and continue on.

Conclusion

THEME: Greed will get you NOWHERE in life!Genre: exemplum: teaches a moral lesson pertaining to the consequences of greed.Source of the Tale: Roman de la Rose

The Roman de la rose is a medieval French poem styled as an allegorical dream vision. It is a notable instance of courtly literature. The work's stated purpose is to both entertain and to teach others about the Art of Love.LOVE OTHERS INSTEAD OF ONLY CARING ABOUT YOURSELF!!!

Contemporary Counterpart: This is a standard moral lesson taught to every elementary school child.